President Obama outlines key NSA reforms

In a 43-minute speech this morning at the Justice Department, President Obama announced a series of reforms to the NSA and said the country enacted the surveillance programs using big data without much of a public debate. He also issued his policy directives on the NSA, which the New York Times posted. The Washington Post has broken down the speech into digestible chunks.

Obama’s changes include ending the current so-called “meta data” bulk collection of phone data in the U.S. although the program will be remade with changes to which entity stores the data (it won’t be the government but he didn’t say who would hold it) and how government can access it. In another key change, he said that the U.S. would provide privacy protections for foreigners’ data.

The president didn’t address specifically the tech firms’ suit seeking to disclose more information but he did say companies would be able to disclose more information about government requests for user data. Also, the president said he will ask Congress to convene a panel of public advocates to represent consumers before the FISA court.

We’ll update as we get reaction.

Photo: President Barack Obama speaks Friday at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington about NSA surveillance techniques and reforms. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

Obama’s speech was many soothing words and no specifics. He began by rejecting the key elements of his committee’s recommendations. The promised substance is left to the future, creating the ethereal promise of a what done by who from a tomorrow that will never come. The whole thing was smoke and mirrors.